


The Long Dark

by scarecrowstories



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, Solitary Confinement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 17:09:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18815302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarecrowstories/pseuds/scarecrowstories
Summary: Lup's decade long imprisonment in the umbrella felt a lot longer than a decade without anything to mark the passage of time.





	The Long Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm on, like, a four day combo here with a fic a day and that's Cool, so maybe help be keep the streak going by requesting more fics. Thirsty for feedback as always; the more I know what folks like/don't like, the more I can improve for next time. Be good out there, I love you, take care of yourselves, etc.

Lup hated the prison of the umbrella. She was so bored and frustrated that she felt it would justify the creation of new words just to convey how boring and frustrating it was. All she could do was pace in that dark room, back and forth, circling the space so many times that she knew exactly how many steps made up its circumference. She could walk its perimeter with her eyes closed and know when she was back where she'd began, despite it being identical from every angle.

Sometimes her rage would well up and she would scream, tearing at the curtains for what felt like hours. The most maddening part was the absence of time. She no longer thought in terms of hours or days, but instead simply moments. For all she knew, it had been centuries, all of her loved ones dead and gone without ever having found her. Or even worse: that it had been mere seconds, drawn out into their own unbearable eternities.

Regaining enough presence of mind to feel emotions could have taken one moment or many, seconds or decades, and she would never know until she escaped. Eventually when she could extend her senses beyond the umbrella somewhat she was able to take stock of two things: her body had long since decomposed, and the vault doors were still untouched. The awareness of her proximity to her own bones was upsetting, but in the absence of an actionable solution she was unbothered.

She wondered how everyone was doing, trying to summon positive thoughts of the good they could have achieved. Were they still searching for her? Had Barry moved on? What about her brother? She didn't want to consider the alternative that their creations had fully destroyed the world.

Drifting in an out of awareness, she never felt more tethered to reality than the moment she heard Taako's voice. Before he'd even come close enough for her to pick out his words, the very presence of his voice awakened her. Finally, at long last, her imprisonment would come to an end. She could see them approaching before she could make out their speech, and was shocked at how much older Magnus was. Humans aged so much faster than elves, but she was still taken aback by the changes. How long had it been, anyway?

And then she heard him announce, "There's a guy over here with a cane!"

The next few moments as she felt him approach felt longer than her entire imprisonment. He had no idea it was her. After what had clearly been many years, here was her heart, blind to its image, but why? She heard him call Merle "dwarf," and it clicked: they didn't know who each other was, either. Did they all feed their memories to the voidfish after she disappeared? Why? What did she miss?

As soon as Merle's hand touched the handle of the umbrella she threw him backwards, driven by her grief and anger. It had to be Taako. She screamed for him, her efforts reinvigorated as she tore at the curtains helplessly. For the first time in however long she had hope again. 

Nothing could have prepared her for being in Barry's presence again. Like Magnus, he also looked older, though not as much as she would've figured. While it proved to her that they indeed had forgotten one another, she felt she could finally formulate a plan to signal to them for her release. If the voidfish was responsible for their memory loss, she could fix them, find Lucretia and Davenport, fix them too if need be. They could all be together again.

But Barry sacrificed himself, and she was powerless to stop him in the face of her own relic's power. She knew that it wasn't her fault, but it still felt on some level like she was the one who killed him. At the very least his lich form could track them down and help her escape, she thought. It was unfortunate, but at least the two of them would be in their lich-forms together. It was more to look forward to than she'd had in a long time.

Everything felt like it was happening so fast. She'd forgotten what it felt like, having a frame of reference for the passage of time. It wasn't until she became aware of Lucretia and Davenport's presence that the gravity of what happened sunk in. Not only was Davenport reduced to a barely coherent fool, what on earth had happened to young, sweet Lucretia? When she heard her lie to Taako about the origin of the umbra staff, it clicked.

Lucretia was the one who did this to them. She had to be, Lup thought as she heard Lucretia explain her organization. But why was she doing this? Was this because they didn't go along with her plan years ago? Lucretia would never do something so extreme out of spite; that wasn't her nature. No, something must have happened. But what?

Lup sunk to the floor of the chamber and resigned herself to wait, confined still to the dark. It was all she could do. Answers would come in time. They had to. She only hoped that her freedom would shortly follow.


End file.
